Wisconsin

We had a beautiful drive through Minnesota and Wisconsin yesterday. When we pulled up at our hotel there were plug-ins, which makes me think that it must get really cold here in the winter. Frank Lloyd Wright's Talesin is only 35 miles away, but the kids aren't allowed on the tour. I guess that's another item for a later trip.

I'm a big kid now

For some time now Liam has resented ordering off the children's menu in restaurants. So it was with an air of vindication that he pointed out he was too old for the kids menu at Paradiso ( a North Dakota chain of Mexican restaurants) and ordered the chicken caesar salad. He even told the waiter it was really good and he ate the tomatoes. (Usually he remains mute when he's questioned by strangers.) Luke had an after dinner mint for the first time and Grace worked on her straw technique, which she mastered yesterday. That's it from Fargo. No sign of Marg Gunderson.

Regina

Well we're on our way home and our stop for the first night was Regina. This town is football crazy. Everywhere we went people were wearing the Roughrider colours, flying the flag or talking about it. While waiting for coffee this morning, I overheard people discussing the previous night's Montreal Hamilton game. I've never heard people talking about the CFL at a Starbucks in Toronto!

Snow - falling this time

We made it to Banff today. I wouldn't be surprised if it snowed tonight. We drove through snow at Highwood Pass (2200 m - open June 15 to December 1) and took highway 40 through Kananaskis Country. When we stopped for groceries in Canmore, you could see the line on the mountains above which the rain was falling as snow.

Snow

We hiked to Forum Lake today (10 km round trip and 350m vertical.) We crossed into BC, endured lots of mosquitoes and crossed a big section of snow on the trail. Our destination was a pretty alpine lake surrounded by a curved ridge. We looked up at the snow covered Akamina Ridge, one of Waterton's premier hikes. Thunder echoing in the mountains chased us down. Grace slept for most of the descent.
Since we were in the area we stopped for a quick look at Cameron Lake. On the drive back to town we saw two bears feeding really close to town. It was really windy today. We could hear the wind whipping around. It would probably have been a rough boat ride over to the Crypt Lake hike which awaits our return another summer.

Bear's Hump

We hiked the Bear's Hump yesterday. It was surprisingly steep (200m vertical over 1.2 km) but afforded a beautiful vista of Waterton town and lake. Grace had a short nap on the way down.

Back in Canada

After some more majestic Montana scenery we arrived back in Canada and have stopped for a few days in Waterton Lakes. The kids were pretty excited to see their grandparents and finally the scenery made an impact on them. Deer are freely roaming around. Two fawns and a doe grazed as I unloaded the car (which has a nasty expanding windshield crack from a stone chip.) We'll have to return to Montana. It seems such a shame to rush past all the nickel and quarter casinos that are on every corner as well as the historical sites such as the Custer battlefield and the many Lewis and Clark sites.

Great Falls, Montana

We drove 800 km today through three states (started in South Dakota, spent 30 minutes driving through a corner of Wyoming , and ended up in Montana.) We took secondary highways and it was incredible to see the big skies and the endless ranges and of course the cattle grazing. As we got closer to Great Falls we saw our first snow capped mountains of the trip!

We should have stretched this part of the trip out to see more of the Rushmore attractions and some of the western towns like Deadwood. It would also have been nice to see Yellowstone and Glacier Parks. We've done 3400 km so far and I don't think we're even up for the Going to the Sun road in Glacier. Next stop is Waterton Lakes. All those other sights will have to wait for the next trip.

It's unbelievably built up around Rushmore. The actual monument is well done, and your 10$ parking fee gives you access for the year. Outside in Keystone and Rapid City there's an air of a western flavoured Niagara Falls. It's what I imagine Anaheim is like around Disneyland.

Oh and I should mention he generous speed limits - 75 on the interstate and 70 on the secondary highways! What a pleasant contrast to the 2000 km we've done in the past at 90 km/h just to get out of Ontario.

South Dakota

Hundreds of kilometres across flat, then rolling, then hilly plains. Saw some cool grasshoppers at one of the rest stops. We made it to Mt. Rushmore. It was not as big as I thought it was going to be - impressive nonetheless. Dinner at the Olive Garden. Grace ate everything offered to her.
Craft beer from New Belgium brewing in Colorado - Fat Tire Amber Ale.
After last nights debacle, decided to pay a bit more and stay in a so-so Ho-Jo (looks clean and smells clean.)

Beware the $39 special

We stayed at a clean but decrepit 39$ motel in Sioux City last night. Lots of unsavoury types about. Police cruisers at the bar across the street. Smoky smells around and an unappetizing breakfast.

Chicago

We were only in Chicago to see U2 (now postponed!) Since the hotel was paid for (89$ on hotwire) we went anyway. We were at the Hyatt by the convention centre - walking distance to Soldier Field and not much else. We'll definitely return to spend some more time here - the city looked great and there seemed to be lots to do. Dinner wasn't Chicago style pizza, but rather California Pizza Kitchen. We had the roasted vegetable salad which I had been dreaming about since Naples (FL) in March. Local craft beer from Goose Island.

Kalamazoo

After one long day that involved my longest ever border crossing we arrived in Kalamazoo. Dinner was at the Cracker Barrel. Lodging was at a $45 hotwire special. You get what you pay for I guess. At least the internet was free and breakfast was included.

We're packed and ready to go!

Monday morning - the car is packed, Luke is wedged in the back and we're off.

Summer!

School ended this week and now the whole family is ready for summer. Tomorrow we begin our bi-annual road trip out west. Too bad we're packing this weekend as the weather is perfect for relaxing at the cottage.